The mechanical fragility index (MFI) is an in vitro measure of sublethal injury to RBCs. In our previous experiments, we demonstrated that an increase in sublethal injury (increasing MFI) was a component of the RBC storage lesion, and that the MFI was significantly higher amongst the RBC units from male donors compared to pre-menopausal female donors during storage. It was hypothesized that hormonal or menstrual factors contributed to this difference. In this study, we found that RBC units donated by post-menopausal women demonstrated an MFI that was significantly higher than those donated by pre-menopausal women throughout storage.
© 2010 The Author(s). Vox Sanguinis © 2010 International Society of Blood Transfusion.